Growth for all

The first and most important change that the new government at the Centre ought to address is shifting the pattern of development itself. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is aware of recent trends that distort the very concept of sustainable development, essentially through blind aping of everything that defines lifestyles in the developed countries. The unregulated growth of shopping malls, each guzzling several megawatts of electricity; the unsustainable exploitation of our groundwater resources, driven essentially by heavy subsidies on the price of electricity for farmers; and incursions into tribal areas and agricultural or forest lands for setting up industrial projects all of these violate the very fundamentals of sustainable development.

The country can ill afford a continuation of these trends and their implications for distributive justice. Whatever may be the political forces behind the growth of Naxalite activity across the country, one major factor behind this is the growing disparity between rich and poor, symbolised by the insensitive and vulgar display of wealth by the rich in our society. In this respect, it is for civil society and the intellectual class to establish some norms with relation to what would constitute socially acceptable behaviour.

The government must lay down regulations and provide fiscal incentives and disincentives so as to promote efficient use of energy in buildings, motor vehicles and household appliances and ensure compliance with environmental laws. As a first step, complete overhaul, greater autonomy and empowerment of the central and state pollution control boards are essential. Strengthening our infrastructure and manpower for wildlife conservation, particularly the protection of the tiger, is an economic and cultural imperative.

One major reason for the success of the UPA is that in its previous tenure it focused on poverty eradication in rural India. Mahatma Gandhi rightly emphasised that development in India must have at its core rural development. The government must intensify its efforts in this direction, but that would require a strengthening of the delivery system with a sense of urgency and purpose.

The civil services in the country, including the police, have seen no major change since independence. In the case of the police, the recommendations of the National Police Commission have not been implemented in over three decades, and the country remains stuck with a largely uneducated, ineffective police force which is ill-equipped to deal with the threats of terrorism and crime that are largely byproducts of poverty and unregulated urbanisation. Similarly, in the case of other services, it is important to implement the major recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission, chaired by Veerappa Moily. There is no greater measure that ensures the betterment of the poor than improving the effectiveness of the civil services.

On the external front, India has emerged as a power to be respected and heard. But perhaps we have, through a disproportionate preoccupation with Pakistan and often a reactive rather than proactive approach, foregone some opportunities in external relations, the Indo-US nuclear deal of course being a refreshing exception. While strengthening our relations with neighbours, we must define other priorities also. We need to reach out and establish closer economic relations with countries in Africa and even in the Pacific small island states. China is making major inroads in these regions largely through investments in infrastructure and physical assets. India has a comparative advantage in investments in human capital in these countries.

The time has come for us to set up a department of international cooperation within the ministry of external affairs. This department should give formal shape to and implement India\'s external assistance programmes. This is also an opportune moment to begin some back-channel discussions with Pakistan on improving relations, irrespective of what our formal posture might be.

In the field of energy and climate change, we need to, on priority basis, provide substance to the country\'s National Action Plan on Climate Change, released by the prime minister on June 30, 2008. The country has a unique opportunity today of fashioning a completely new energy future, which uses fossil fuels at high levels of efficiency, but which more importantly brings about a massive and early transition to renewable sources of energy. India has the wherewithal to emerge as a leader in this field with the prospect of global market dominance in the future and a much higher level of energy security nationally.

It is imperative for the government to act early in setting on course a range of these and other long-term developments, before routine issues and problems crowd its radar screen. It would also be a healthy departure from the past for the government to elicit the support of some political parties outside the government. The current standing of the prime minister ensures that such an approach is not mere wishful thinking. The gesture of inviting the BJP to nominate the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha should be built on. The opposition should cooperate with the government on issues of indisputable relevance to the nation. Perhaps the time has come for departure from politics-as-usual to upholding what is good for India. The people certainly expect this.